“But by the grace of God I am what I am.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)
If you were to honestly name five characteristics your perfect persona of a teenage young lady would look like what would they be?
The world paints a picture of the teenage girl as smart, funny, beautiful, kind, confident, flirty, and always dressed in the latest fashion. Does your list mention any of the above characteristics? If so, don’t condemn yourself. It’s not wrong to want to look nice or feel beautiful. However, when we begin to obsess over these things it draws us away from our true character and this is when it becomes a problem. We need to have a God-confidence about who we are. A God-confidence is believing that we look the way we do because God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27). Having a God-confidence is allowing Him to define who we are and not the world (1 Samuel 16:7). Seek to see yourself as God sees you and stop obsessing over your so called “flaws”. The word obsess means to preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually, intrusively, and to a troubling extent (Google Definitions). The first step in being confident in who you are and having a God-confidence is learning how to control the thoughts about yourself that pass through your mind.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…” (KJV). What your mind dwells upon is where your heart truly lies. Your heart is a very integral part of who you are. You only receive one heart in this life and whatever you store in it will stay with you the rest of your life. You will become what you think about yourself. Start telling yourself that God created you as His masterpiece and He has called you to do great things for Him (Ephesians 2:10). Start telling yourself that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:13-14). You see, you will never be free in the battle for self-esteem if you do not deliberately take a stand in your mind to not dwell on the negative! Will you have days where you have self-esteem issues? Of course! We are women! But when those thoughts try to enter into your mind, immediately start quoting scriptures that speak about your beautiful identity in Christ!
Allowing God to be your confidence will allow you to realize that your confidence comes from Him and not yourself. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 says, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” You see, it is God who gives you confidence in yourself! The definition of confidence is, the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust (Google definitions). If you think confidence comes from you, you will constantly be relying on yourself to provide the strength you need. We know already that relying only on ourselves can be tricky! Let’s be honest, we are a rollercoaster of emotions! We need someone stable and all-powerful to rely on and trust in! Thank God that He is the one that gives us our confidence if we let Him! Tommy Tenney said, “First you must be someone who knows who she is and how she fits into the world, who needs no one but God to make her a whole person. This is what a woman who has put her confidence in God looks like to me. You do not need the things or people (guys in particular) in this world to make you who you are. All you need is God and in the end He receives the Glory and you can live in peace knowing you have put your trust in the One who knows you better than anyone!
If you allow God to be your confidence, you will not have to dwell on who you are all the time but who He is in you! You will not have to worry about if you are beautiful or competent enough because you will be in Him! Change your way of thinking by asking God who you are and seek His word to memorize in your heart so your heart can be pure and confident in the One who made you!